Shell Rotella T 5W-40

lukeshupe · November 7, 2006

I am approaching time for my first oil change and am trying to decide what oil to go with. I ran Shell Rotella T 15W-30 in my last truck and I have never ran synthetic in anything. This is my first new truck and I really wanna do everything right to make it last like my old truck 200k+. IS anybody using or has anyone used the Shell Rotella T 5W-4o synthetic. I have been really happy with shell and I was wanting some feedback on using it in my new 5.3.

Frank Sub · November 7, 2006

Hi lukeshupe--If I read my instruction manual correctly 5W-30 is the lub to use, with 10W-30 a warm weather alternate. Use of any other weight lub may void the engine warranty.--Frank Sub

nitro882 · November 7, 2006

My $.02..

I wouldnt do it. Rotella in any grade does not meet the GM 6094M oil spec that is required for warranty on a 5.3l. If you ever had a lubrication related failure your warranty would be in effect void.

Your owners manual spells it out pretty clearly. 5w30 with gm 6094m spec is what is you need per the book.

Its your motor, so ultimately its your call. If it were my truck i would err on the side of warranty complience but that's just me

btw i run 5w30 Amsoil ASL full sunthetic in my 5.3( it meets said spec). Amsoil is the only thing i put in everything i own with a motor.

olson03 · November 7, 2006

There is a post on page 2 or so in this forum called "synthetic oil" - maybe not, posted by bigdogxx. It has links to some interesting oil sites. The motorcycle one is particularily interesting as it spells out the difference between group I, II, III and synthetic oils, as well as the API codes and how they relate to what qualities specific oils have. After reading those articles I am considering switching to shell rotella synthetic. According to the article rotella is a commercial use oil that undergoes different evaluations than non-commercial oils so it may not meet sj or sl requirements, this doesn't mean that its not as good an oil or isn't superior as an Amsoil or Mobil 1. Here is a quote from one of the articles:

"bout every three years or so, the API releases a new S standard. The new standard supercedes the old standard, so, for example, the SH standard included extra high temperature deposit protection due to the popularity of turbo engines in the early '90s; SJ oils did not have this high temperature protection, as that portion of the standard was dropped. This means that for some cars, oils made to the older rating systems are sometimes better than oils made to the new standards.

and another:

"Although few car owners test their oil regularly, most large trucking companies routinely do oil analysis on their diesel trucks. Used oils are checked for viscosity breakdown, for detergent and dispersant function, and for metal contamination that would indicate engine wear. C oils that don't measure up are quickly run off the market place. To prevent engine wear, the best strategy is to keep deposits off the pistons, rings, and bearings. Therefore, diesel oils typically contain half again more detergents, double the dispersants, and a much more expensive and robust VII package than S type oils. If you go to an auto parts store, convenience store, or grocery store, you'll see that there are dozens of brands of automotive oils, all claiming to be the best. If you look at truck stops, you'll see there are only a very few diesel oils sold, typically Rotella, Delo, and Delvac. Trucking companies find what works for them and won't switch. They're not interested in saving a dollar a gallon on some unknown oil."

So it's an interesting thing to try and figure what the best possible oil you could use, a lot seems to depend on what type of driving you do, temperature, oil change interval, and so on. I used to use Mobil 1 because I thought it was clearly the best oil and a true PAO based synthetic, not a refined GroupIII oil, now I find out that that isn't true, and that Amsoil has also switched from a PAO base to Group III. I have been buying whatever synthetic I can find that is reasonable and changing it every 4-5 k. As I said before I think I'll switch to rotella synthetic as its cheap, has a good detergent package and should work well. Having said that I'll leave you with one more quote:

"The most current S standards are SL and SM. These standards differ from earlier standards like SH by lowering phosphorus to improve catalytic converter life, and increasing molybdenum to lower internal engine friction and improve gas mileage. Phosphorus was originally added to oils to help protect high pressure areas like cam lobes and crankshaft bearings, so lowering phosphorus levels is a compromise of lower pollution, perhaps at the expense of engine life. Molybdenum is added to improve fuel economy due to the federal CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards, thereby helping GM and Ford keep selling large V8s to the American public."

Definately run a synthetic, probably doesn't matter which one as long as you have a reasonable oil change interval. Hope this helps you, take the time to read the articles, so many people, including myself, have such a dim understanding of oil technology that its interesting to read something that lays out the facts and hopefully lets you draw your own conclusions.

olson03 · November 7, 2006

Just another quick note, I mistakenly said that mobil 1 and amsoil had switched from a PAO base to a group III base, apparently amsoil XL and M1 5000 or group III and the rest are still PAO base. Still makes you think though.